It's not like I'm worried about you
by Tea Cup Sheik
Summary: Inspired by Gill's in game quote "Come by and see me every day so that I can see you. If you don't, it makes me think... Uh, it's nothing. I'm not worried at all." Just a fic about the way that Gill feels now about Akari, and how it got to that point.


**AN: Whoo, my first fic on this account! I was just playing Tree of Tranquility, and Gill just said: "Come by and see me every day –my name-. If you don't, it makes me think… Oh, it's nothing, I'm not worried about you at all." I thought that was so cute, that it inspired me to write a fic. It's about how Gill's feelings progressed and how he now feels about Akari. : Please red and review. If enough people like it, I might make a sequel or something.**

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It was noon. There was nothing innately special about the hour, as being the opposite of midnight meant it was often over shadowed. In fact, the only thing noon was known for was falling into the middle of a work day. Even so, a clock face was getting much more scrutiny for reflecting it than usual. Every couple of minutes, blue eyes would flicker over to it as if the boy suspected that time would suddenly pull a nasty trick by leaping forward unexpectedly.

She was late.

Okay, late was truthfully a bad word to use. It wasn't as if they had made plans after all, or like Akari had promised to show up again. It was just that… Well, she came everyday. Even whenever the weather dropped a blizzard on them, or a thunderstorm roared over their heads. Even during those days no one else dared to peek their heads outside their doors, she had marched straight through the gales, often with (and Gill really like this part) a cup of Tomato juice and a sheepish grin.

At first, he had found this reckless behavior stupid, but slowly as the days passed it was as if the ice around his heart was being chipped away little by little. After a while, he'd begun to look forward to the visits the farmer girl made. It became less about the seemingly endless amounts of tomato juice and more about Akari herself. She was the kind of person who emanated warmth, a kind that would sink into your skin and make you think that life was just a little bit brighter. It was hard to keep your emotions frozen around someone who could thaw out coldness like spring does to winter.

That didn't mean Gill hadn't tried though. The strange new feelings that began to flutter in his stomach had unnerved him even more than he'd let himself admit. He'd snapped whenever she'd recovered his diary, been rude whenever he accidentally let any little shed of his true feelings slip, belittled her to her face… And each time he did this, a hand seemed to clench over his heart. _I didn't mean it_. He'd think desperately as her cheery expression would falter for a moment before returning to its sheepish default. Yet he couldn't stop saying them over and over, he always panicked at the last moment and blurted out anything to hide what he really meant.

Yet she always came back.

…Except, she hadn't shown up yet and it was already one in the afternoon. She'd always arrived right on opening before.

Gill shuffled the papers in front of him randomly, trying to give himself something to do to distract him. He'd never really worried about someone before, and he wasn't sure he liked the feeling.

It had just been a few hours. It was nothing. He told himself this over and over, kind of disturbed that her short absence unnerved him so much. It was just that, she was reckless. The trait he'd once found negative now seemed endearing for her… Even so, it made her more likely to get into trouble. She always placed every else's' needs before her own, always spent all her energy helping others.

What if she had gone too deeply in a mine and was now trapped? What if she had passed out in her fields? What if she'd tried to visit the mother tree and got attacked by the bears?

Gill stood up abruptly, causing Elli to look up at him in surprise. "Where are you going?" She asked from her nearby seat, furrowing her brows in concern at the look on his face.

Gill opened his mouth to answer, but the chiming sound of the front door opening distracted him.

There stood Akari, looking a bit worn out but smiling none the less.

The sudden flood of relief caught the mayor's son quite unexpectedly, making his knees feel slightly weak. Instead of sitting back down, he walked towards her so they met in the middle of the entry.

As she opened her mouth to greet him, and reached inside her bag to pull out what was almost certainly tomato juice, he held up a finger to silence her.

It was time to be truthful.

"Come by every day so I can see you Akari. If you don't, it makes me think…" His words caught in his throat, and his brain scrambled for something else to say.

"Oh, it's nothing. I'm not worried about you at all."


End file.
